We are just barely inside the 3G area. So perhaps now is the time to think about the iPhone. Will they give us a discount if we move our TV and internet and regular phone to ATT? Will I have to give up my day job and start developing iPhone apps? Will we buy an Apply laptop when our Dell gives out?

I had a Optos Retina Scan" today at the eye doctor. I refuse to let them dilate my eyes and cringe at the talk of lazik. So, to get an image of my eye, this is the next best thing. Or the latest great thing. Or some way to get additional revenue, I'm sure mostly to pay for the hardware.

My eyes were normal. The link has some images of not so normal eyes. One more area for a hypochondriac to worry about. Someday we'll be able to get digital eye replacements. Until then, I'm still wearing glasses.

These shoes are from high school - nearly 20 years old. Sophia finally convinced me to throw them out. The soles were nearly worn through. They were stained with grass juice from being used to work in the yard. And honestly, I rarely ever wore them. Goodbye!

To make this fit the technology category...I suspect shoe technology has improved in the last 15 years.

Microsoft has a tool called Sync Toy that works like robocopy and can be used to keep two directories synced. Perfect for a mirror backup. I plan on using it to backup the photos and other data. The task is scheduled daily.

Too bad you can't schedule a task for when the computer is being shutdown. I'll work on that one.

This time, NAS means Network-Attached Storage. The slug is really a Linksys NSLU2. The hope and rational is that $250 in hardware (the slug, a new 320GB drive, and a USB 2.0 enclosure to convert an existing drive) converted into a simple backup solution AND shared network drives will make life better and safer -- especially in case of data failure and when I get a laptop. The bonus of a potential iTunes server and a linux box (toy depending on your opinion) makes this an easy investment of some holiday money. If it works, I may suggest the same setup for my parents.

The kingwin external enclosure has some great lighting. The red bar is for access and the blue one is for power. Newegg had them fairly cheap. In the long run, I expect this device to be used as the offsite backup -- unless I decide to push the backups out to our Dreamhost space. Once a month (or so), I'll copy the important backup data to it and leave it offsite. Until then, the server room (guest bedroom) will look more and more like a laser-light show.

The primary USB drive is a Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 320GB External Hard Drive. The photo is correct, it looks like a hardbound book. A little silly but a great thing to have on the bookshelf.

Everyone needs a backup strategy! Reuse an existing drive and this solution comes in under $150 with shipping.

Amazon Magical Turk. Hard to explain except this is the artificial artificial intelligence side of an Amazon API that lets a program ask a human for the answer. Brilliant.

Sheep Market is one of the clever results. But after taking a look at the available tasks and the prices, I find that the Turk movement probably isn't ready for primetime. In fact, one blog quote a found said it was more like a crossword puzzle -- idle amusement, rather than a potential income.

I upgrade from 512MB to 1GB at home. Supposedly this is an easy way to notice performance improvements. As simple as pressing opening up the Dell (the new ones are laid out nicely inside), opening up the connectors on my empty memory slot, pressing in the new memory, closing up the box, and turning on the computer. Nothing confusing about it.